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The Radical Freedom of Dungeons & DragonsFour decades after its creation, Gary Gygax's fantasy world of unbounded choice is more appealing than ever.

You might not recognize the name Gary Gygax. But even if you've never rolled a critical fail on a d20, you have almost certainly consumed some movie, TV show, book, comic, computer game, or music influenced by Gygax's most famous creation: Dungeons & Dragons, the world's first and most popular role-playing game.

The FBI certainly knew who he was. Between 1980 and 1995, agents compiled a dossier on the gaming company TSR Inc. and Gygax, its founder. In 1980, a note on TSR stationary about an assassination plot drew the FBI's attention, leading to a search of the company's offices in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The note turned out to be materials for an upcoming espionage game.

In 1983, an FBI field report about an investigation into a cocaine trafficking ring in Lake Geneva cryptically references Gygax—but whatever his alleged role was, it has since been heavily redacted by the Bureau.

One of the most popular podcasts of 2017, The Adventure Zone, features three brothers and their dad playing D&D. The game's strange dice are tossed behind prison walls and used as a learning tool for children on the autism spectrum. And it remains a refuge, as always, for nerds, theater kids, and other strange birds.

The latest supplementary rulebook for the game, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, cracked several bestseller lists when it was published in November. What is driving hordes of people to throw down good money to buy a narrative-free tome full of spell descriptions and rules about sleeping in armor?

The sinister-sounding allegations in Gygax's FBI dossier (obtained by Reason via a Freedom of Information Act request) hint at an explanation. It's not a surprise the game's creator was a self-declared libertarian or a proud pen pal of prison inmates. He was an individualist at heart who had always chafed against discipline. That perpetual inclination to seek out ever more possibilities—"why not?" rather than "why?"—is baked into D&D. The same thing that drew the ire of overheated evangelicals and parent groups is leading to the game's newfound popularity today.

D&D is a deeply libertarian game—not in a crude political sense or because its currency system is based on precious metals, but in its expansive and generous belief in its players' creative potential. It's collaborative, not competitive. It offers a framework of rules, but no victory condition and no end. The world you play in, and how you shape it, are entirely up to you.

In the afterword to the original D&D manuals, Gygax encouraged players to resist contacting him for clarification on rules and lore: "Why have us do any more of your imagining for you?"

Gary Gygax changed his tune, once D&D became a commercial success. E.g. the following extract from his article in Dragon Magazine #26, June 1979:

"...
Because D&D allowed such freedom, because the work itself said so, because the initial batch of DMs were so imaginative and creative, because the rules wre incomplete, vague and often ambiguous, D&D has turned into a non-game. That is, there is so much variation between the way the game is played from region to region, state to state, area to area, and even from group to group within a metropolitan district, there is no continuity and little agreement as to just what the game is and how best to play it. Without destroying the imagination and individual creativity which go into a campaign, AD&D rectifies the shortcomings of D&D. There are few grey areas in AD&D, and there will be no question in the mind of participants as to what the game is and is all about. There is form and structure to AD&D, and any variation of these integral portions of the game will obviously make it something else. The work addresses itself to a broad audience of hundreds of thousands of people—wargamers, game hobbyists, science fiction and fantasy fans, those who have never read fantasy fiction or played strategy games, young and old, male and female.

AD&D will eventually consist of DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE, PLAYERS HANDBOOK, GODS, DEMI-GODS & HEROES, and MONSTER MANUAL and undoubtedly one or two additional volumes of creatures with which to fill fantasy worlds. These books, together with a broad range of modules and various playing aids, will provide enthusiasts with everything they need to create and maintain an enjoyable, exciting, fresh, and ever-challenging campaign. Readers are encouraged to differentiate their campaigns, calling them AD&D if they are so. While D&D campaigns can be those which feature comic book spells, 43rd level balrogs as player characters, and include a plethora of trash from various and sundry sources, AD&D cannot be so composed. Either a DM runs an AD&D campaign, or else it is something else. This is clearly stated within the work, and it is a mandate which will be unchanging, even if AD&D undergoes change at some future date. While DMs are free to allow many unique features to become a part of their campaign—special magic items, new monsters, different spells, unusualsettings—and while they can have free rein in devising the features and facts pertaining to the various planes which surround the Prime Material, it is understood they must adhere to the form of AD&D. Otherwise what they referee is a variant adventure game. DMs still create an entire milieu, populate it and give it history and meaning. Players still develop personae and adventure in realms of the strange and fantastic, performing deeds of derring-do, but this all follows a master plan.
...
With D&D, arguments regarding some rule are lost due to the differences in play and the wide variety of solutions proposed—most of which reflect the propensities of local groups reacting to some variant system which their DM uses in his or her campaign in the first place. With AD&D, such abberations will be excluded, and a broad base can be used to determine what is actually needed and desired.
...
Conformity to a more rigid set of rules also provides a better platform from which to launch major tournaments as well. Brian Blume recently established a regular invitational meet for AD&D “master players” (in which this writer placed a rather abysmal 10th out of 18 entries, but what the hell, it was good while it lasted-). The “Invitational” will certainly grow, and TSR is now considering how best to establish an annual or semi-annual “Open” tournament for AD&D players to compete for enjoyment, considerable prize awards, recognition, and a chance to play in the “Masters” event. There is no reason not to expect these events, and any others of similar nature sponsored by TSR, to grow and become truly exceptional opportunities in the years to come.
..."

Gary Gygax launched the ADnD line so people could do tournaments with characters.

thats literally the reason.

Because OLD dnd was like "LOL FUCK IT YOU HAVE 18 STRENGTH GROGNAR YOU FUCKING RIP THE DOOR OFF ITS HINGES"
and then he takes his sheets to gen con and the DM running the game tells him to suck a cock
So then ADnD hapens